No one can blackmail party: SP on Azam Khan

As controversy continues over senior UP minister Azam Khan keeping away from its Agra meet, Samajwadi Party today said no one can "blackmail" the party as nobody has the stature which SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav enjoys among the Muslim community SP national general Secretary Ramgopal Yadav said Muslims have a lot of faith in Mulayam Singh.

"No one can blackmail us as no one has the stature, which Mulayam enjoys among Muslim community, which has undeterred faith in him", he said.

He was asked about Azam Khan keeping away form the two-day national executive meet of the party. Khan had skipped the meet as he was reportedly unhappy with his own government's handling of the riots that has claimed the lives of 40 persons.

Ramgopal's comments come a day after the SP supremo denied any rift with Khan, the Samajwadi Party's Muslim face, saying Khan can never be "upset" with him.

Asked about some Muslim organisations demanding the resignation of UP government over the Muzaffarnagar violence, he said, "Organisations which are demanding the dismissal of Akhilesh Yadav government are professional ones they can create a propaganda in media but not among the Muslims".

On the stand take by Darul-uloom-Deoband, Yadav said there were several groups there.

"There are several groups there, but the biggest one is with us," he claimed.

When asked about the possibility of drift in Muslim vote bank in the wake of Muzaffarnagar violence, Ramgopal said SP never considered them as "votebank".

"We never considered Muslims as a vote bank their socio-economic condition is not good and SP has always tried to rake up their issues and tried to get them redressed. And this is what parties like BJP term it as Muslim appeasement".

About BJP, the SP leader said that its traditional vote bank has drifted to other parties including SP due to which it was allegedly trying to flare communalise passion in the country with the sole objective of taking political mileage.

On Congress, Ramgopal said it never wanted SP to flourish and expand its base."SP's loss is Congress gain...They know it very well and its internal agenda is to damage our party", he said.